First Sight
by LoonRider
Summary: From a chance encounter between a C-Sec officer and an Alliance soldier, to the miraculous return of a dear friend, to a wartime reunion of lovers and heroes. A short series documenting the first moments in each game that Shepard and Garrus see each other, from the POV of both. (Tracy Shepard. Garrus LI. Colonist/War Hero)
1. Citadel

**Shepard**

"Saren's hiding something—give me more time! Stall them!"

Saren's name caught Shepard's attention as she approached the fountain ring of the Citadel Tower, and her eyes swung to its source: two arguing turians. She had to guess that the one who was practically baring his teeth was the one pissed off about Saren. The other one sounded downright zen by comparison.

"Stall the Council? Don't be ridiculous. Your investigation is over, Garrus."

And he walked away. The angry one, Garrus, turned to her with short glances at both Kaidan and Ashley behind her. "Commander Shepard." Figured that one was easy to figure out. "Garrus Vakarian. I was the officer in charge of the C-Sec investigation into Saren." And that explained the anger.

"Who was that you were arguing with?" Not that she couldn't guess. She knew A subordinate-commander argument anywhere.

"That was Executor Pallin, the man in charge of Citadel Security. He and I... don't agree on a lot, particularly in this case." The last words were practically grumbled, but meant for her to hear, spoken with a glance toward where the Executor had gone with what she could only guess was annoyance in the subordinate officer's eyes.

"Doesn't sound like you like Saren much, officer." More, it sounded like he'd been doing his damndest to help her cause. She was damn sure he was in the minority, there.

His mandibles twitched, eyes narrowing into a scowl. "I _know_ he's up to something... like you humans say, I can feel it in my gut. But he's a Spectre, so just about everything he does is classified. I couldn't find anything solid."

She sensed the frustration in him, and had an uncomfortable feeling that she'd be feeling it herself soon enough. Still, she had to try.

"I think the Council's ready for us, Commander." Kaidan's voice interrupted any further attempt at conversation, and Garrus nodded his farewell.

"Good luck, Commander. Maybe they'll listen to you."

 _Yeah, I doubt that_. She didn't let her doubt show on her face, nodding back to him. "Maybe. Nice meeting you, Garrus."

He seemed reliable. Maybe if this hearing went sideways, he could help her out.

 **Garrus**

So that was the woman who'd led the groundside investigation of the hellhole that had been the Eden Prime attack. Garrus had to admit, for having just come back from a mission that by his reports went about as sideways as it was possible to go, she looked pretty together. She carried herself like any soldier who'd earned their rank should, and met his eyes evenly when they spoke. It was no big surprise to him that the two soldiers behind her looked like they had total faith in her.

"Commander Shepard. Garrus Vakarian, I was the officer in charge of the C-Sec investigation into Saren." For all the good that did. He had a report on the events of Eden Prime that barely mentioned Shepard herself (only references to 'Alliance forces' repelling the Geth attack), and didn't breathe a word of Saren or even Nihlus, though he knew by word of mouth that the other turian Spectre was dead. Beyond that, he had pretty much nothing: Saren's public profile that read like a celebrity promotion, a few paltry press-reports on his heroic Spectre achievements... nothing helpful.

But damn it, he _knew_ something else was going on. Every instinct he had told him to pursue this, but the Executor refused to let him, and now it was out of his control.

"Doesn't sound like you like Saren much, offcer." That was putting it gently. Saren's mere existence was starting to piss Garrus off. The idea that one of his own kind could be out there committing atrocities like allying with the geth to attack innocent colonies... it made his blood boil.

"I _know_ he's up to something... like you humans say, I can feel it in my gut. But he's a Spectre, so just about everything he does is classified. I couldn't find anything solid." He had a few leads, but he hadn't been given time to pursue them. Hell, he would probably pursue them no matter how Shepard's audience went. He hated leaving things unfinished.

He saw her smile, apparently pleased with his efforts regardless of the pitiful results. He was no judge of human beauty, but he knew strength when he saw it. This woman was a credit to her military and her species, and if the Council didn't listen to her (and he knew they wouldn't, not about this), they were idiots.

"I think the Council's ready for us, Commander." Her male subordinate called attention back to the matter at hand, and Garrus nodded. He shouldn't keep them.

"Good luck, Commander. Maybe they'll listen to you." And maybe the keepers would put on a song and dance number in the Presidium. Hah.

"Maybe. Nice meeting you, Garrus." She nodded as she stepped past him, and he turned to watch her approach the Council chamber before sighing. He could stay and watch the hearing, but why bother witnessing the inevitable? He knew the Commander would need better than her own testimony and his pathetic excuse for an investigation, and he resolved to get it for her.

He headed out of the tower, towards the ward access elevator. With any luck, whatever Dr. Michel had called him about earlier (before his investigation was cut off) would still be useful.


	2. Omega

I know I'm playing kinda freely with existing canon/dialogue, but this wouldn't be any fun if I just rehashed what we all already knew. To that end, I'll be ignoring Garrus' chat with his dad in the comics for the sake of flow. R&R, everyone! I miss reading opinions on my stories.

#

 **Garrus**

If he was going to die, this wasn't a bad way to go out. He'd lost track of how many mercs he'd dropped, and of how long he'd been awake. Emptied stim packs and spent thermal clips were scattered across the floor, fresh ones in two tidy piles within arm's reach, and the difference in the two had become his only means of telling time. His stocks were running low. He wouldn't last much longer. Soon enough, he'd join his team.

Soon enough, he'd join Shepard.

It was a bad time to think of her. There was another wave coming. Jabbing the syringe end of another stim pack into his neck, he shuddered at the jolt of energy, even if he knew he'd need another one to last out the wave. They were losing their potency the longer he stayed awake.

He shook his head, not really clearing it of the sleep-deprived ache that was a constant companion now, and put his helmet back on to protect himself from the chance of a miracle shot by one of these rookies.. His rifle butt found its place at his shoulder, and he focused down the scope. A too-eager asari dropped like a rock, blood leaking from her crest. The sight danced to the next sign of movement, and a human who wasn't quite all the way into cover fell. More jumped the barricade, and he raised his gun to drop them before they made it to cover—

His breath caught. His heart skipped a beat. He almost dropped his gun. The sight trembled and he clenched his hands to steady it, stared through the scope again. Was he seeing things? It was her. The short, black hair kept out of her face and ready for action. The dark blue eyes, focused and blazing. The splash of freckles across defined cheekbones, the determined, sloped jawline... but spirits! Her face was criss-crossed with scars that looked... downright unnatural. Even her pupils had an odd red gleam to them, as if by some electric light. It was Shepard, but it looked like she'd been through hell.

He'd forgotten the other freelancers coming towards him. He had to be sure. One finger tapped the settings of his rifle, dropped the slug size to a concussive shot. He fired. Her shields sparked to life and she moved to one side, into cover. Hallucinations didn't have shields. Ghosts could not be shot. But how? She'd been dead. Gone. For two years!

His focus was shattered. He knew a few of the mercenaries had gotten out of his line of sight. But he also knew it didn't matter, because he watched Shepard make a familiar gesture to the two humans who'd jumped the barricade with her, a human brunette and a grizzled older man, and then all three of them opened fire on the rest of the freelancers. She moved like lightning, overloading the shields of a salarian with a tech attack and then flinging him into a crate with a biotic blast before he even knew what was happening. That was definitely Shepard. Despite his exhaustion, despite everything, he smiled inside his helmet as he took out a human who'd been behind Shepard and was stil too confused to start shooting.

The other mercenaries were on to her, and he saw one duck into cover just beyond his line of sight. Did Shepard see? He switched back to concussive rounds and took another shot at her. Her shields deflected it, but she whirled, first aiming her pistol at him before noticing the threat and dropping her aim. He saw the shot, didn't see the asari fall, but he knew she was down. Then Shepard and her new squad, neither of whom he recognized but for a symbol on the woman's clothes looking familiar, were moving forward out of his sight. More gunfire below him, and he managed to put his focus back on the mercenaries still crossing the bridge. A few of them took shots at him or towards where Shepard had gone, but he dropped them.

The door at the back of the room slid open. It took all his effort to keep focus on the mercenary man who'd managed to elude his sights.

Then a voice he'd never forgotten. Her voice. "Archangel?"

Spirits, it was a good thing he had his helmt on. He had no idea what she'd have said if she knew it was him right off. He managed to raise a hand in greeting, and then his target's head poked out. A single shot dropped him, and Garrus turned to face the ghost that stood behind him. The scars stood out more starkly from this distance, but it was still Shepard. Not just her face, her voice, but the way she held herself: confident, ready, knowing she'd proven herself an ally and waiting to see if he would do the same. He almost looked forward to her reaction as he pulled off his helmet, set it aside, and rested back against a chair, propping one boot on the table next to it.

"Shepard. I thought you were dead."

And he wasn't quite 100% convinced he hadn't somehow joined her and was delusional before death, but he would hold on to this for as long as he could.

 **Shepard**

Archangel was a turian. She recognized the distinct helmet design, made to accomodate the crests of turian males. So Garm had been right when he said the turian he'd tangled with was Archangel. Having seen what had become of the other freelancers, she was glad she'd ordered Miranda and Zaeed to start attacking them early, or the three of them might have lost more than their shields crossing that bridge. "Archangel?"

A hand was lifted to acknowledge her, and then she watched a bullet whiz throught he air and take the last mercenary in the heart. An excellent shot. She looked back at Archangel just in time to see him remove his helmet.

And her heart damn near stopped.

"Shepard. I thought you were dead."

It took her brain a split second to reset, but the shock was replaced by happiness once that was done, and she smiled. "Garrus! What are you doing here?" And in the middle of a standoff with a mercenary army, but she figured that part went without saying.

"Just... keeping my skills sharp. Bit of target practice." He shrugged, and she saw for the first time just how worn out he was. How long had he been at this, to sound so exhausted? What had he been through over the last two years, to have that look in his eyes?

"Are you okay?" A woefully inadequate question. He broke eye contact for a moment.

"Been better, but..." And he looked back at her. "It's sure nice to see a friendly face."

He had that right. Hell, she didn't think she'd ever been happier to see someone in her life, even when she was reunited with Joker. Here was someone she'd fought alongside before: not Cerberus or an unknown, but a trusted friend. She would have hugged him if not for their current situation and the fact that her squad was with her.

Back to the matter at hand. "Likewise, Garrus, but why are you out here on Omega?" It wasn't the first place she'd have thought to look for him, but then... given the reasons he'd had for joining her in the first place, maybe the lawless station wasn't really that odd a fit for him.

He leaned on his rifle, which she noticed had seen better days despite obvious and careful maintenance, along with his armour. "Got sick of Citadel bureaucracy. Figured I could do better on my own." He glanced out the window, over the bridge they'd crossed to get here. "Not hard to find criminals out here. All I have to do is point and shoot."

"Ain't that the truth." She barely heard Zaeed's mumble, and didn't acknowledge it, still focused on Garrus.

"And I notice it's earned you a new nickname, huh, 'Archangel'?" She'd thought the name a bit melodramatic when she first heard it, but now that she knew it was him... somehow, it fit.

Again he shrugged off the question. "Just something the locals started calling me... but it's just 'Garrus' to you, Shepard." He said her name with a degree of awe. Not that she blamed him. She'd heard the same awe in Tali's voice and, she suspected, would hear it in the voices of any of her old friends she ran into. Miracle revivals tended to have that effect, she supposed.

"Well, don't I feel special." She looked out over the bridge herself. "Though by the way, you shot me. Nailed me good a few times." The shots had still pinged her armour even with her shields deflecting them.

His mandibles twitched, though she couldn't quite place if he was amused or nervous. It took him a second or two to answer her. "Concussive rounds only. You were taking your time, and I had to get you moving. Didn't want the mercs getting suspicious."

"Right... and speaking of that, how did you manage to piss off every major merc group in the Terminus Systems?"

This one he answered without missing a beat. "It wasn't easy. I _really_ had to work at it." He leaned back. "I am amazed they teamed up to fight me... they must really hate me."

Now she really wanted to reach out to him, but again she stopped herself. They had bigger problems. "I'd say so, given the number of people they were willing to throw into your line of fire. Made it easy to get here, but getting out..." She shook her head, let out a little hissing sigh. "Probably not gonna be as easy."

"No, it won't. That bridge has saved my life, funneling all those idiots into scope... but it works both ways. We try to get out that way, and we'll be slaughtered."

"So what do we do, just wait for them to send another wave?" Miranda spoke for the first time since their arrival, and Shepard spared her a glance, but Garrus beat her to answering as he got to his feet, moving to stand at her side overlooking the bridge.

"It's not really that bad. This place is defensible, and with the three of you... I suggest we hold position, wait for their defenses to crack, and then take our chances." He glanced down at her. "Not a perfect plan, but it's a plan."

She shrugged. "We've had worse plans in our time." She looked back over the bridge, though still addressed him. "How'd you get yourself into this mess?"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him flinch. "My emotions got in the way of my judgement. It's a long story." Then the grimace was gone. "Tell you what: you get me out of here alive, and I'll tell you the whole damn thing."

Oh, there was no question of that. She nodded, smiled at him again. "It's a deal. No mercenary army's gonna be able to deal with us if we fight together." Again, she ignored Zaeed, who was pointedly clearing his throat from over her shoulder.

He and Miranda counted, but right then her only thought was getting her old friend out of this mess in one piece. No way was she losing the one comrade she could completely trust at her back.


	3. Omega - Bonus

Couldn't help myself. I decided to put this as a bonus chapter here rather than upload it separately, since it's a pretty important part of their ME2 reunion.

#

 **Shepard**

Blasting an endless line of mercenaries straight to hell made her feel almost nostalgic. Back in the day, she'd taken on as many merc groups as she had geth... or that's what it felt like, anyway. She was sure the geth body count won out by a few hundred at least.

Admittedly, the gunship was new. Taking out the troops it dropped into the lower level was easy, but she knew taking it down would be harder... maybe she should have stopped Cathka from fixing it.

She was halfway up the stairs when she heard a bellow, presumably from the gunship's intercom. "Archangel!" A burst of gatling gun fire she could hear from her position. Tarak was going after Garrus. "You think you can screw with the Blue Suns!?" She pushed herself for more speed, leaping up the rest of the stairs two or three at a time.

The door slid open just in time for her to see the gunship drop to give its missile launchers clear line of sight. "This ends now!" She shielded her eyes from the explosion... and then she heard Garrus scream.

Her hand dropped, and she saw him land hard. He stayed down. "Garrus!" No... no no _no_ she was not losing him now. "Miranda, Zaeed! Bring that gunship down!"

The order wasn't really needed, and she knew it, but it made her feel better when the two of them cut loose on Tarak and even more of his troops. In record time, every Blue Suns member was dead on the floor, and the gunship was down in flames, but she didn't take even a second to be proud of that. She ran to Garrus.

It was bad. Her knee landed in a pool of his blue blood. The lower right side of his face was a mess, his mandible hanging on only by a miracle. His armour in that area was destroyed and blood-stained. Don't let him be dead, don't let him be—when her hand touched him, he jolted, an awful-sounding gasp followed by a gurgle as he spat more blood onto the floor. "Garrus!" She turned him onto his back, careful to keep his head turned sideways... and a good thing, too, because a second later he hacked up another gout of blood, his breathing wheezing and rattling like death. He needed help. "We're getting you out of here, Garrus. Just _hold on_. Don't you dare die on me!" She touched his face, and her glove came away slick and blue. She swallowed a lump of terror and took solace, as usual, in taking as much control as she could. "Miranda, radio Joker! I want Chakwas ready when we get there!"

"Right, Commander." The Cerberus operative sounded doubtful. Shepard ignored the tone, though Zaeed, on Garrus' other side, was harder to put out of her mind.

"He's not gonna make it."

"Shut _up_ , Massani! Either help me get him up, or get the hell out of my way!"

The old merc chose the first option (good, because otherwise she might have hit him). He helped her sit Garrus up, and together they got him as close to his feet as possible, her supporting his mangled right side while Zaeed took the left. Garrus wasn't holding any of his weight, and the change in position caused him obvious pain, more of his blood spattering from his wounds and across her face and armour. Too much blood. How much could a turian lose and still survive? Miranda was deploying medi-gel while she and Zaeed hauled Garrus along, but she had no idea if it would save him.

No. She couldn't think that. They'd save him. They had to save him.

"You're not dying like this. You hear me, big guy?" She didn't care if Zaeed heard her. She focused on Garrus from the corner of her eyes as they pretty much dragged him back across the bridge, back to the transports. "You stay awake, or I swear I'll kick your ass."


	4. Menae

This was a tough one to do! There's so much going on in Priority: Palaven that of course Shepard and Garrus don't have a lot of time for their own thoughts, but that doesn't mean they weren't worried about each other.

#

 **Shepard**

Seeing Palaven from orbit was killing her. She'd told James they had an 'old friend' there... as if that described what Garrus was to her. If he was down there... the Reapers had already taken so much. If they'd taken him from her... then every single one of those abominations, from the lowest husk to the biggest capital ship, was paying the price for it.

Fortunately, Menae had no shortage of things to shoot her anxieties and frustrations out on. But it also had its share to add to them. Primarch Fedorian was dead. Great. Fantastic. Like she didn't have enough to worry about, now it was the line of succession for turian leadership giving her a headache. And always Palaven was visible in her peripheral, and with it the thought that the man she cared about had died before she'd even seen him again.

When Corinthus called her back to the main camp with news of the next Primarch, it was all she could do not to ask him to check on Garrus. Surely someone with as much experience against Reaper forces would be a valued asset in this battle? But she bit her tongue, kept it professional, and made a beeline back to the command post. The sooner she did what she had to do, the sooner she could give a little bit of focus to what she wanted to do.

"As your partner said, succession is usually pretty simple. But right now, the hierarchy's in chaos—so many dead or MIA..."

Oh, for crying out loud... "I need _someone_ , I don't care who, as long as they can get us the turian resources we need."

Just as she was ready to strangle something, a new voice. "I'm on it, Shepard. We'll find you the primarch."

And just like that, her frustration disappeared under a wave of relief. "Garrus!"

Corinthus snapped to attention. "Vakarian, sir! I didn't see you arrive..."

"At ease, general."

Shepard barely acknowledged the exchange, stepping closer to Garrus. "You're alive." She couldn't even describe how happy she was. Extending her hand to him felt almost insulting, but he clasped it immediately, with both of his.

"I'm hard to kill. You should know that." And did she ever.

"I may have noticed a cockroach tendency." She ignored the confused blink that got, just smiling to show him she was teasing as he released her hand. "It's good to see you again. I thought you'd be on Palaven." And she was so glad he wasn't.

"If we lose Menae, we lose Palaven." Garrus glanced over the soldiers nearest them. "I'm the closest damn thing we have to an expert on Reaper forces, so I'm... advising."

Sounded about right. "Can't think of any turian more qualified." Or any other turian who'd seen even half the shit Garrus had seen, but that was academic. She looked back at her squad... specifically, the one who didn't know the man she was talking to. "James, this is Garrus Vakarian. He helped me in stopping Saren and defeating the Collectors. He's a hell of a soldier." Probably better to leave out the part of him being her lover.

Shaking James' hand, Garrus nodded. "Lieutenant." He glanced to Shepard's other side. "Good to see you too, Liara."

Liara smiled. "Good to see you in one piece, Garrus."

No kidding. It was a hell of a load off Shepard's mind. Now if they could just find the new primarch and get off Menae in tact, this day would be perfect

 **Garrus**

Earth had been hit over a week ago. Major cities, like Vancouver, only known to him as the city Shepard had gone to in order to turn herself in for what happened with the Alpha Relay. He'd barely heard anything after Earth was attacked, and then Palaven was hit, and he was given a whole new set of things to worry about.

He didn't let it distract him. Not when he was fighting, not when he was advising on strategy or giving orders. But every other waking hour, when he was taking what breaks he could to rest and eat, it weighed on him. He thought of his father, of Solana, both down on Palaven and barely heard from since he joined the base on Menae. He thought of Shepard, spirits knew where... maybe fighting back on Earth, like he was fighting now. Maybe escaped off planet, somewhere in space waiting for a chance to strike back. Maybe already dead, killed while still incarcerated and unable to fight back... he did his best not to think about the last option.

When word came that an Alliance ship was being sent to help, Garrus didn't get his hopes up. It could be any ship.

But then, after he'd finished a hard fight and was trying to coordinate what was left of a decimated squad to key reinforcement points, his comm crackled to life (the tower must have been fixed), and he heard General Corinthus' voice. "Attention, troops, Commander Shepard is here to retrieve the new primarch, Adrien Victus. Any commander that knows General Victus' location, report in to the main command post."

He forgot whatever he'd been about to say. Shepard was alive! And on Menae! Turning to the nearest lieutenant, he gestured to the rest of the squad. "I have to report in. Take care of things here."

He was gone almost before the soldier finished saluting. The barrier couldn't be lowered fast enough, and it was all he could do not to run to Corinthus' post. Before he even made it there, he heard an irritated voice: "I need _someone_ , I don't care who, as long as they can get us the turian resources we need!"

Yeah, she was just fine. He worked to grin as he stepped up the ramp. "I'm on it, Shepard. We'll find you the primarch."

Her eyes widened, and then a broad smile lit her face. She was as beautiful as ever. "Garrus!"

Spirits, it was good to see her. He wanted to go to her, pull her into his arms and not let go for at least a day... then Corinthus' voice snapped him back to reality. "Vakarian, sir! I didn't see you arrive..."

Right. They had other issues to deal with. "At ease, General."

Apparently he wasn't the only one who'd been worried, as he saw in her eyes when she stepped closer to him. "You're alive."

He reached out and took her hand when she extended it, squeezing it between both of his. It was the only gesture he could offer, at the moment, but he tried to make it count. "I'm hard to kill. You should know that."

And now, with her here, he felt like he actually had a chance to make a big difference in this war.


End file.
